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PROPAGANDA
The manipulation of public opinion generally carried out through media that is capable of reaching a large amount of people and effectively persuading them for or against a cause. -
Age of Messages
This age challenges us to learn to separate the messages that are being used to influence us from the information that doesn't carry any hidden intentions or agendas. Some of the messages are designed to manipulate us without our knowing it. -
World War I
During WWI, propaganda posters began to emerge to sway viewers into having an opinion on a certain side. This continued onto WWII and the Holocaust. It creates and sways public opinion. -
Censorship
Censorship kept people from learning the truth, and propaganda filled in the void. It maintained patriotism and blunting protest. The public could not access certain information due to censorship. -
Invention of the Printing Press
Became possible to quickly and easily produce posters and books. The public could now read information on text such as newspapers. Writers and journalists emerged due to this invention. -
Link between Propaganda and Mass Media
For propaganda to be effective in impacting the whole country, the official propagandists had to control the content in newspapers, public speeches, films, book publishing, and every other means of communication. -
"Die NSDAP sichert die Volksgemeinshaft"
Translated to "The Nazi Party Safeguards the People of the Nation", was the banner headline for a popular German poster dispersed to promote the Nazi Party. In the poster, the German urges people to join their local chapters of the Nazi Party to support the effort. In addition to the text message, the poster also conveys complex visual messages. -
National Socialist German Worker's Party
Also known as the Nazi Party, the group sought to present itself as the purveryor of positive values and good intentions. Their posters presented the German family as blonde, blue-eyed, pale, and attractive. -
Stereotypes of the Jew
The Nazi Party created a stereotype for all Jews: the prominent rose, the beard, the association with money, and the implication of greed and dishonesty. The whip adds cruelty and heightens the suspicion that the coins were ill-got, that they were acquired as a result of the suffering of someone else. -
The Fusion of Politics and Art
The Nazi Party politicized the aesthetic of collaborating politics and art to sway the minds of Germans. The Nazis confiscated art from museums and artists that they thought was "degenerate". They had attacked art they thought was un-German and dangerous. -
The Protective Eagle
The protective eagle was the symbol of the Nazi Party and it was often depicted with a swastika that it held by its talons in a circle. There is a strong link presented in the symbol: the swastikas are the embodiment of the state and the guardians of the family and nation. The role of the individual, each family member, is to support the party. -
Dictionary of Nazi Language
American authors created a special dictionary for decoding Nazi language. They saw Nazi language as characteristic of totalitarian regime. They called the language "an instrument of social control". -
The Degenerate Art Exhibition
Before the visitor drew any conclusion about the art, they were told what to think by the words silkscreened on the wall. Viewers were treated to a litany of comments on the imagery in the room. The exhibit was dominated by paintings and sculptures of nudes. -
Introduction of the Internet
Everyone around the world can access information from the internet. Websites and pages were created to inform and entertain the public. It soon came to be the most popular tool to get information. -
Invention of Radio
Ability to communicate orally with large amounts of people in a very small amount of time also helped the development of propaganda. The public could listen to the radio from the comfort of their own homes if they owned one. Information streamed from this device to inform the public. -
Children's Propaganda
The Nazi Party also used propaganda to teach young children and sway their minds. They published secret messages in children's books to show German children that they should have an opinion and preference about Jews; obviously a negative opinion. -
The Power of Words
The invention and reinvention of words over time often tells us much about the attitudes of the society using them. Original German words' literal meaning can be compared to it's meaning during the Nazi period. -
Ten Commandments of Propaganda
Created in 1937, designed to be a manual of strategies used by writers of propaganda. It offered ten strategies and identified seven basic propaganda devices. -
The Fine Art of Propaganda
Published in 1939, published this volume, in which the fiercely anti-Semitic speeches of Reverend Charles Coughlin, heard via radio throughout the US in the 1930s, were analyzed using these seven identified devices.
